Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.
Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb 15;281:751-758. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.070. Epub 2020 Nov 11.
Evidence from family and twin studies suggests that mood and anxiety disorders, and related temperamental factors may share common etiologic factors. We examine the familial aggregation and coaggregation of anxiety disorder subtypes and anxiety-related temperamental traits, and their association with mood disorders.
A total of 477 probands and 549 first-degree adult relatives from a large community based family study of affective spectrum disorders completed semi-structured diagnostic interviews and self-reported assessments of temperamental traits including: negative affectivity on the 'Positive and Negative Affect Schedule' (PANAS), neuroticism anxiety on the 'Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire' (ZKPQ), and anxiety sensitivity on the 'Anxiety Sensitivity Index' (ASI).
The anxiety-related temperamental traits of negative affectivity, neuroticism anxiety and anxiety sensitivity had significant familial specificity, even after controlling for comorbid mood and anxiety disorders in probands and relatives. Yet, these traits in probands did not predict anxiety disorders in relatives. Although some anxiety subtypes were familial, there were no longer familial links between anxiety disorder subtypes (generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety or panic disorder) after controlling for mood disorder subtypes in probands and relatives.
Cross-sectional interviews were used to estimate disorders, and self-report measures were used for temperamental traits.
These results confirm previous research regarding familial overlap between anxiety subtypes and mood disorders, however their shared liability cannot be fully explained by anxiety-related temperamental traits. These findings suggest that anxiety-related temperamental traits may indicate a vulnerability for mood and anxiety disorders or a potential consequence of these conditions.
来自家庭和双胞胎研究的证据表明，情绪和焦虑障碍以及相关的气质因素可能具有共同的病因。我们研究了焦虑障碍亚型和焦虑相关气质特征的家族聚集性和共同聚集性，以及它们与情绪障碍的关联。
一项针对情感谱障碍的大型社区基础家庭研究中，共有 477 名患者和 549 名一级成年亲属完成了半结构化诊断访谈和气质特征的自我报告评估，包括：“正性和负性情绪量表”（PANAS）中的负性情绪、“Zuckerman-Kuhlman 人格问卷”（ZKPQ）中的神经质焦虑和“焦虑敏感性指数”（ASI）中的焦虑敏感性。
即使在控制患者和亲属共病情绪和焦虑障碍后，焦虑相关的气质特征，如负性情绪、神经质焦虑和焦虑敏感性，仍具有显著的家族特异性。然而，这些患者的特质并不能预测亲属的焦虑障碍。尽管某些焦虑亚型具有家族性，但在控制患者和亲属的情绪障碍亚型（广泛性焦虑障碍、社交焦虑或恐慌障碍）后，焦虑障碍亚型之间不再存在家族联系。
横断面访谈用于估计障碍，自我报告测量用于气质特征。
这些结果证实了先前关于焦虑亚型和情绪障碍之间家族重叠的研究，然而，它们的共同易感性不能完全用焦虑相关的气质特征来解释。这些发现表明，焦虑相关的气质特征可能表明对情绪和焦虑障碍的脆弱性，或者是这些疾病的潜在后果。
